This sure is a blog

A Trials and Trebuchets fanblog, mayhaps?  Hello! I am known as Vio!  If you wish to refer to me, proper pronouns for one of my state of being are she/they. Seanan McGuire fandoms sideblog @throughtheovergrowndoor

[vioqueenofmushrooms]

My top 5 books of 2025!

In an order that in no way denotes how much I like each book

#1 Eat Your Heart Out, Kelly DeVos

A kickass zombie book that plays with the horror of diet culture! I had SUCH a good time reading Eat Your Heart Out, I love all of the characters, and the way Kelly DeVos plays with horror tropes and self-awareness is PHENOMENAL!! I have so many feelings about how the ways the characters view themselves fundamentally alters what outcome they receive.

For those who have not read it, Ms. DeVos gives a list of horror tropes with their percent chances of dying at the beginning, and the characters intentionally move in and out of the archetypes. I spent the whole book doing analysis of how likely each character is to die at any given time, I loved how each character experienced an outcome that was predicted by the statistics, and I have SO MANY FEELINGS ABOUT IT ASK ME FOR A NON SPOILER-FREE POST ABOUT IT I DARE YOU

I have a vampire book by Ms. DeVos checked out called Go Hunt Me, I'm SO excited to read it :D

Also the cover art for Eat Your Heart Out is SUPER COOL and I recently found out the artist is on tumblr! Great job @ursuladecayart!! I was so excited to read it because it sounded right up my alley (and was) and I loved your art so much <333 You truly did it justice

And I truly love to see a fat girl who feels no shame, Vivian you deserve the world

#2 Everything is Tuberculosis, John Green

People who know me may think I only rant about this book because I'm very interested in infectious diseases, but in fact this book was also a MASTERCLASS in writing good nonfiction. John Green's writing talent really shows through, I loved watching him bring all the threads together, and it was a great read from beginning to end. John actually narrates the audiobook which I listened to! The book balanced informative, funny, heartbreaking, and incredibly relevant so well. Everything truly is tuberculosis.

#3 A World Without Heroes, Brandon Mull

It's been several years since I read Brandon Mull's Fablehaven and Five Kingdoms series, and I decided it was time to read something else of his! As much as I loved Fablehaven and enjoyed Five Kingdoms, I think his Beyonder's trilogy may have surpassed them as my favorite!

I'm horribly attached to many of the characters, and having not finished the last book yet (I'm maybe a third of the way through? No spoilers past book two to be safe please!) I'm terrified some of them will die. Brandon Mull writes great fantasy that has been incredibly inspiring for me, I was delighted all the way through the first book! It's just so perfectly the kind of book I love and while I haven't been reading much recently (by my standards) this drew me in.

I can't wait to finish it, and then maybe reread Fablehaven and finish Dragon Watch!

#4 Over the Woodward Wall, A. Deborah Baker

This book was written by one of my favorite authors (Seanan McGuire) under one of her pen names! A truly delightful book with a narration style I loved, this kind of book has a special place in my heart. It was beautiful and real and not real and I really appreciated the balance between exploring the themes of abuse while still preserving the feeling of childhood and all of the delightful whimsy.

I love the Crow Girl, she has my heart, and I feel so much hope for her. I will be reading the other books in the series.

#5 Youngblood, Sasha Laurens

Me: I hate cheesy romance

Also me: I need to read this lesbian vampire boarding school romance NOW

One thing about me is that I hate romance unless it's lesbians in which case it can do no wrong (unless the characters suck). My beautiful, angsty teen lesbians are in a former-friends-forced-proximity-surprise-roommates relationship at vampire boarding school and need to do vampire social justice.

I haven't actually finished the book (I KNOW I'M SORRY) but I plan to, and it was just such a fun silly time to read this summer while I was really stressed, so fun, 10/10! Here's a photo of my favorite silly exchange between my girls:

OH ALSO I really really love Indexing (Seanan McGuire) but I think I read that at the end of last year and I haven't finished Indexing: Reflections yet so I'm not including it

Ok I'm not going to edit this I just wanted to share my book joy from this year! I'm going to tag some of my mutuals in case any of y'all want to do a top five (or however many you want) books of 2025 list, or some other kind of list, but anyone is welcome to participate even if I don't tag you!! I will not remember to tag all of my mutuals who might be interested

@coatiiii @wolfeyedwitch @jayalaw @andthentheresanne @nymph-of-books @gh0stcav3 @salithemage

[itsdappleagain]

[itsdappleagain]

people in my replies arguing for their fav white guy???

[itsdappleagain]

CRITICAL THINKING QUESTIONS:

1. Do you think a post pointing out an issue with fandom racism and misogyny is an appropriate place to bring up your favorite white male character? Why or why not?

2. Did this post call you racist for relating to a white male character? If you thought or think so, consider why you got defensive.

3. Think about the disproportionate amount of art and writing about white male characters in fandom spaces. Do you think this is, across all boards, due to them being written better or more relatably than the POC protagonist?

a. If so, consider why you notice the writing of white male characters more often. Are white male characters written "better" than the POC protagonist, or do you have an internalized fear of relating to non-white characters that you need to work through?

b. If not, consider what ingrained biases might lead to this phenomenon in fandom spaces.

c. If you read a. and thought that white male characters literally just are usually or always written better than the POC and/or female protagonist, accept you are wrong and consider some self reflection.

4. Have you researched how to write and draw characters that are non-white and/or non-male? If not, does this limitation lead you to gravitate towards characters you feel "qualified" to make content about, therefore inflating the issue?

5. If people are telling you to reconsider your point of view in my replies section, did you stop to consider what they said apart from your human instinct to be defensive? Have you considered that arguing against those trying to educate you about fandom racism and misogyny, which can be difficult to see in yourself, in the notes of a post talking about fandom racism and misogyny, might be short-sighted and counterproductive?

6. If you are inclined to defend your favorite white male character, pause. Are all of your other favorite characters also majority white? Are they majority male? Are they either of these and NOT the main character of the show, movie, or game they originate from?

a. If not, this comic is not for you. Please move on and give it a reblog if you're feeling generous.

b. If so, consider this pattern. If you want to break it, ask someone for a reccomendation for characters or media similar to your favorites. Expand your horizons, and engage with your community rather than fighting against them.

[zmpl]

the psych industry and society as a whole is not normal at all towards people who self-harm. people view it as attention-seeking. mental health professionals view it as justification to send you to a “higher level of care” aka incarcerate you. it is seen as a bad/negative behavior that needs to be fixed.

in reality, the concept of self-harm is heavily socially constructed and an issue of bodily autonomy. as humans, we seek out physical pain all the time. we eat spicy foods. we get tattoos and piercings. we engage in BDSM. so why do we forbid self-regulation through pain?

when people are told to cover up their scars, when people are kicked out of DBT support groups for self-harming, when people are conditioned to lie about their self-harm to avoid getting sent to the psych ward, you are telling them that their body is not their own.

the last time i cut myself was roughly a year ago. ironically, after adopting a bodily autonomy mindset around self-harm, i stopped having urges to cut nearly as often because i’m no longer engaging in a power struggle with my own mind over trying to avoid doing a “bad” behavior. i don’t feel like doing it today, but if i do tomorrow, that is okay. because it is my choice to decide what i do with my own body.

[catboymuqing-moving]

sims 4 patch notes will be like “fixed an issue where harvesting carrots caused toddlers to explode” then you load the game and all your sims are bald

[flork-of-cows-official]

burn out

[badpsychicadvice]

Internet hugs for anyone else out there dealing with burn out or other mental and/or physical issues that make it hard to interact right now

[comikbook]

lets make bad art together

[comikbook]

[comikbook]

i just realized that i forgot to put the word “make” in the image and i think thats fitting lets bad art together

[koobiie]

i feel strongly about this

[ailurinae]

[moringmark]

[deoxoid]

his wife has filled THEIR house with ANTIQUES. to AVOID DAMAGING HER VALUABLES i fuck him on the floor

[manyblinkinglights]

#feminist retelling

[returnsandreturns]

i HAVE to stop looking at shelter cats until i'm moved but BUNNY

[returnsandreturns]

bunny is still there and apparently hasn't been adopted because she's very skittish and shy but so AM I

i assume they don't put cats on layaway but i might go this weekend to see if i can say hi, at least. and then bring her home on, like, june 5th when i'm all moved and settled if she's still there.

[returnsandreturns]

bunny 1.5 years and a few pounds later

[hydrocities-left]

If you don’t like rice then idk man get well soon I guess

[hydrocities-left]

all the bitches in the notes saying that rice sucks need to remember that rice backwards is ecir which means absolutely nothing. just like their opinion

[fitnessadvicethatfitsinyourlife]

I do not promote weight loss mentalities because I believe that if weight loss is going to occur in a healthy way, it's going to occur as a side effect of adopting appropriate fitness habits

Not as the goal, because adopting fitness habits does not always result in weight loss.

And it's the habits, like building muscle, improving flexibility & mobility, increasing nutrient intake & hydration, and getting quality rest & sleep that actually matter.

If you're successfully doing those things your health is quantitatively improving, no matter what your weight is doing. But if the metric your most concerned with is just loosing weight, you may actually be getting less healthy not more.

Because weight loss can occur for many reasons, and most of them are not healthy.

[tinasnowz]

theestallion: BTS of my HOT GIRL SUMMER EAU DE PARFUM 🔥🧡☀️

[ryan-sometimes]

Working an office job will truly make you have the wildest enemies, bc why is my nemesis rn a woman I’ve never met and who exclusively haunts me by sending diabolical emails, and also a specific guy who left my company before I even worked here and made the system so fuckass that it ruined procedures for like a year

[ryan-sometimes]

Yesterday my nemesis (woman I’ve never met and whose face I’ve never seen) sent my office an email so rude, basically saying we had fucked up every project she ever ordered from us, one of the worst emails I’ve ever read in my life.

And it pissed me off so badly that I spent the ENTIRE WORK DAY today compiling evidence from every project my team has ever done for her, pulling past emails she’d sent us, putting together an entire case proving that she had been the problem all along. That she got projects mixed up, that she’d made requests that were nonsensical, literally everything you could possibly imagine. Screenshots of emails, reports we’d submitted, EVERYTHING.

This woman in particular has been terrorizing my team for years, her name is almost a slur in my office, I had simply had ENOUGH of her.

I put all of this evidence together and sent it to all of my bosses at 4:30pm. Then I took a long break to eat a sweet treat and drink some tea.

After my break, my bosses all called in an emergency meeting with me and they said they read my report and fucking loved it. And I sat on a teams call with my boss’ boss as she wrote my nemesis the scathing email I had always fantasized about sending, using the evidence I’d compiled, and hit send.

It was the most satisfying workday I’ve had since I got hired.

[winnie-wine]

[crimeronan]

sometimes i have strong opinions but they're also so inane that halfway through writing a post i'll be like "yeah, this is Absolutely not worth the energy it's taking" and delete everything. but then the opinion is still in my head. and i still want to share it. so within five minutes i go "you know, i bet i can phrase it more succinctly this time" and anyway. you all see where this is going. sometimes i do this four times in a row before i give up on the specific inane opinion and instead write a vague post about the concept of opinions as if that'll satisfy the urge to post the entirety of my inner monologue online. may or may not be relevant to what you're reading right now. and now all our lives have been enriched. you're welcome

[miggylol]

Spin the wheel. That's who's trying to kill you.

Spin the wheel again. That’s who’s trying to protect you.

(If you have zero idea about a name you got, spin until you see someone you recognize.)

Are you safe?

Absolutely not. I'm dead. 100% dead.

I might stay alive, but it'll be a really close thing.

I'll take some hits, for certain, but I should be okay in the end.

A few attacks might get through, but nothing concerning.

The attacker might be able to get in one lucky hit. If that.

I am the opposite of worried. I'm 100% safe.

…Look. I've tried picturing this. But I honestly don't know how to answer.

Remaining time: 4 days 2 hours

(I've run this poll twice before, expanding it significantly for the second run. With about a year passed since that second run, I thought it was time to add another couple hundred names to the list and have another go.)

[whyenn-reader]

''what if you regret it'' then you will expirience regret - a normal and unavoidable part of the human expirience.

[whyenn-reader]

the more you twist yourself into a pretzel to avoid regret the harder it will hit when it eventually catches up to you.